Another Magical Journey in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban by JK Rowling

Of course, I loved this book. I mean, it’s a Harry Potter book! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; there’s just something really comforting about sitting down with a Harry Potter book. You really can just loose yourself in the magic and forget about reality. It’s one of those things where you look at the clock one minute and it’s something like 8pm and then you look up and it’s 11pm! I could sit for hours reading this series.

After recently reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I got into a bit of a Harry Potter mood and I’ve decided to continue reading the series from where I left off reviewing them, late last year. You can read my reviews of Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets if you follow those links. So, Prisoner of Askaban is one of my favourite films, so I loved reading this one. I loved the further detail that JK Rowling went into that the film missed out. One of my favourite parts of any Harry Potter book is the Quidditch matches – so I loved reading all about Harry’s Firebolt!

So Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban centres around an escaped prisoner called Sirius Black, who is on the loose and apparently hunting down Harry! In order to protect people against Sirius (who is said to be extremely dangerous), strange creatures called Dementors are acting as guards of Hogwarts and other places, in an attempt to frighten Sirius off. But the Dementors themselves are very dangerous, and Harry has a couple of near-fatal experiences with these dark creatures in this book. Everything is seeming much darker and dangerous than the previous two books in my opinion.

So much happens in this book! There are seriously so many sub-plots in this book, it’s unbelievable. There’s the mystery surrounding how on Earth Hermionie is tackling so many subjects this term – I mean, we all knew she was clever, but is she really clever enough to attend multiple lessons – at the same time of day!? Also, Oliver Wood, the Griffindor Quidditch captain is going all out to try and secure the Quidditch cup this year. Harry has acquired a very mysterious thing which is the Mauraders Map, which enables him to see exactly where everyone is in the castle – and also, it reveals several secret passageways from Hogwarts into different destinations. And then there is Ron’s old rat, Scabbers, who is fighting for his life on numerous occasions in this book, because Hermionie has a new pet cat, who seems intent on killing Scabbers!

Despite the fact that the subjects dealt with in this book seem darker and more dangerous than ever before, there is still an equal balance of humour, which is GREAT. The humour in these books is fantastic, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban is no exception.

Another favourite scene of mine, from this book, is one of Professor Lupin’s lessons – when the children all have to face the boggart, which is again, a very scary thought, but very humorous when the boggart turns into Professor Snape!

There’s so much to say about this book, it is impossible to say it all in this review! But yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it and in my opinion, it was faultless. Packed, until the very end, with excitement and intrigue – the best in the series so far, for me!

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What are your thoughts?

• What did you think of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban?
• Would you agree with my five-star rating?
• What is your favourite Harry Potter book?
• Have you read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

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Thank you for reading my review!